Top patent owners: patent activity
The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation have published the most patent families in analyzed space technologies since 2000 (Figure D13). Boeing (United States), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) and China Electronics Technology Group (China) are the other top 5 patent owners. Airbus is the first European company in the ranking, in sixth place.
The National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is China's main hub for space science. It oversees the planning, development, management and operation of the country’s space science satellite missions and plays a crucial role in China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Program.
Boeing plays a pivotal role in space research in the United States, contributing significantly to NASA's space missions. Boeing designs, manufactures and operates advanced spacecraft, satellites and launch systems. Notable contributions include the development of the Space Launch System (SLS)
SpaceX has become a major innovator in space research through its innovative approach to spacecraft and rocket design. The company has achieved numerous milestones, including the development of the Falcon rockets, which have lowered the cost of access to space. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was the first commercial vehicle to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and SpaceX now carries astronauts to the ISS as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
SpaceX has filed only a low double-digit number of patents for its research activities in the space technologies analyzed, which mainly cover satellite technologies but not rocket technology. The company prefers to go the "trade secret" route rather than patenting its technology. Company founder Elon Musk argued in 2012 that SpaceX does not want to allow competitors to use published SpaceX patents "as a recipe book."
Top patent owners: patent growth
Patenting activity in the analyzed space transport technologies has grown dynamically over the last decades (Figures D14–D18). Many top patent owners have expanded their patent portfolios over the entire period analyzed from 2000 to 2023. This is especially true for communication companies like Qualcomm and Nokia which have increased their patenting activity significantly (Figure D16) since 2000. has context menuhas context menu
Top patent owners: research priorities
Research priorities show that all top patent applicants clearly focus their research efforts on the development of Communication and Security technologies (Figure D14).
In absolute terms, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed and published the largest number of patent families (2,120) in Communication and Security technologies (Figure D15).
However, there are a number of companies with significant research activities in the other three technology trends analyzed. For example, Boeing and Airbus are very active in the development of Sustainable Propulsion systems and have published the largest number of patent families in this technology trend since 2000 (Boeing, 173; Airbus, 133).
In respect to Automation and Circularity technologies, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (194), Boeing (126) and the Northwestern Polytechnical University of China (112) published the highest number of patent families between 2000 and 2023.
Human-Machine Interface in space transport applications is a particularly important research field for Alphabet (83 patent family publications) and Sony (56).
